Find joy in your life

Tamara O'Shaughnessy

9/1/09 2:05 PM

From the editorI’ve respected Oprah for a long time. Beyond the more obvious reasons, she seemingly has her finger on the pulse of America’s sensitivities.

Several months ago, we decided to focus our efforts at Chicago Parent on helping you find more joy and happiness in your life, away from the bad news in the daily headlines and TV reports or the very real financial concerns in your own home. So I was pleasantly surprised to read Oprah, too, has pledged to find more joy in her life, making herself more of a priority.

Then a few weeks later, I met local mom Tamara Quinn, who with her co-founder helps women trying to become pregnant through holistic means at their business, Pulling Down the Moon. As we finished the interview and started chatting, Quinn revealed their manta for 2009 is also focused on joy and ways to find it.

Her words resonated with me and I hope they will with you, too: "If you want healthy, happy kids, you have to be healthy and happy yourself. You create an environment of joy and happiness in your household and you’ll have joyful, happy kids."

Over the years, people have playfully ridiculed my optimistic look on everything. When I can, I try to avoid negative people and their negative thoughts.

"The more negativity you are around, the more you feel, the more you become. It’s a self-propagating experience," Quinn says. So true, I told her.

Her advice: Express gratitude every single day. "Even though the world is a mess, find something to be grateful for." The second step, Quinn says: Do something to help make other people’s lives a little easier. "The greatest way to feel self-fulfillment is by doing something for somebody else, especially during this time."

This month’s issue has a lot of tips for finding joy and loving life as a mom or dad. I’d love to share your tips, too, so drop me an e-mail.